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Noteworthy successes for Black History Month...

Clara Brown

An ex-slave, Clara Brown moved to Colorado during the gold rush, opened the state's first commercial laundry business, and used the profits to invest in properties and mines across Colorado. She became the first female member of the Colorado Pioneer Association in 1884.

Elijah McCoy

Ever heard the phrase "the real McCoy"? That's referring to Canadian-American inventor Elijah McCoy, who created the automatic engine lubricator in the late 1800s. The device was used to improve factory machines, transatlantic ships, trains, and other heavy equipment. He received almost 60 patents over the course of his life.

Frank McWorter

Known as "Free Frank," McWorter was a former slave who bought his freedom by mining and selling saltpeter, the main ingredient in gunpowder. The success of his saltpeter operation allowed him to also buy the freedom of 16 family members and purchase hundreds of acres of land in Kentucky. He became the first Black American to have founded a town: New Philadelphia, Illinois.

O.W. Gurley

Gurley is credited as the founder of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood District. He owned about 100 of the city's 600 businesses at the time, including a grocery store, apartment buildings, a hotel, and an employment agency. He fled for Los Angeles, California after the Tulsa race massacre of 1921.

I did a post on that massacre: HERE